Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on President Bola Tinubu to apologise to Nigerians and step down over the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council scandal. His demand came after the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation gave conflicting accounts of the matter.
In a statement released Wednesday through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku, the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, said the CBN's testimony to the House of Representatives directly contradicts what the OAGF had told the public. He argued that the inconsistency has plunged the administration into one of Nigeria's worst credibility crises.
"President Tinubu owes Nigerians an unreserved apology for presiding over this unprecedented collapse of public accountability," Atiku said. He stressed that the president must either launch a genuinely independent probe and punish those at fault, or resign.
Atiku said he sympathised with Tinubu, but warned that no responsible leader should need a fortune teller to know his government was mired in deception. "When two of your most sensitive financial and monetary authorities publicly contradict each other on the same transaction, no serious leader needs a clairvoyant to know that his administration is trapped in a web of deception," he added.
The former vice president demanded clarity on which account the president believed. He warned that Tinubu's silence only fuelled suspicion that the administration cared more about protecting its image than uncovering the truth.
"Every day he delays ordering a truly independent investigation, he deepens public suspicion that preserving his administration's image has taken precedence over establishing the truth," Atiku told reporters. He also blamed the attorney-general of the Federation for staying silent, describing the inaction as worsening the crisis.
Atiku called on the National Assembly to immediately bring the Accountant-General and the CBN Governor before its investigative committee under oath. He said Nigerians deserved to hear a single truthful version of what happened.
The opposition figure stressed that the scandal now extends beyond disputed figures. "It has become a referendum on President Tinubu's integrity and competence," he said.
He raised concerns that if a single person could orchestrate such a scheme involving two major financial institutions, Nigerians had reason to worry about other possible abuses that weak oversight might have missed.
